Seek Our History: The Purpose of Hispanic Heritage Month

One of the reasons that I Loved college (with a capitol L) is because of the Latino student group. It was small, but mighty. I learned so much about leadership, collaboration, advocacy, friendship, etc. etc. through this group, but one of the most important lessons was how vital culture is to our identities. For many years, I grew up isolated from family traditions and my culture (long story). It wasn’t until college that I realized how embracing my traditions and culture wasn’t just acceptable, but necessary. So for me, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to go beyond my normal routine and learn about the highs and lows of the Latino-American experience.

This year my agency did an amazing job in celebrating Latinos in the U.S.–it was super impressive.  The overarching theme (that was very accidental) was that we have to seek out this information.  We’re not taught about the civil rights movement, the arts, the history, etc. of Latinos. We already know our focus in the school system is very Eurocentric (minus February, if we’re lucky). So the onus is placed on us to learn about our history.  Totally not fair, but now as an adult, I enjoy seeking out knowledge and new information that helps me understand my own experience as a Latina in the U.S.

HHM ends tomorrow, but I’m exciting to keep the momentum going–I’ve discovered so many more Latina authors and artists that I want to delve into and a lot (too many) legal issues that I’m hoping I’ll be able to tackle in some capacity.

Here are some quick subjects that really struck my interest during HHM:

1. Sandra Cisneros’ Life on Mango Street. I’ve read the book before, but love re-visiting books now that I’m older–this time around I’m going to read it in Spanish.
2. PBS’ Latino-Americans–this should win all the awards because it’s amazing and, as an attorney, it helped me see how our judicial system has always been a system of imbalance. #staywoke
3. Street vendor fight in Chicago–finally legalized!
4. Old school Jennifer Lopez.  Seems random, but I researched a lot re: Latino music in the US and I’m now so excited for HBO’s Latin Explosion in November and Waiting for Tonight is a classic!
5. Kick ass activist art.

Anything that interested you that I should look into?! (let me be real that I’m #foreveranerd and love reading about new things!).